Moonlighting

by Bryan Gros

Barclay's Pub on College Avenue in Rockridge has revived their Dinner with the Brewmaster events, hopefully on a semi-annual basis. Basically, the idea is to invite a local brewmaster to bring in some of the beers and have the chef prepare dinner courses which match the beers.

When Barclay's first opened in `91 they had a few of these dinners featuring Lost Coast Brewing and Willets (now Downtown Joe's), in Napa, among others. On July 18, Brian Hunt, former brewer at Willets and Downtown Joe's, was invited back to feature the beers he brews under the Moonlight Brewing name.

The pub was closed for this event, and guests received a commemorative T-shirt and pint glass with unlimited refills in addition to the five course meal. Seven Moonlight beers were available on tap. The appetizer was a house-cured salmon with a sweet mustard and dill sauce, and it was accompanied by Bombay by Boat IPA. A very generous helping of salmon was nicely arranged as a rose, and the spicy sauce was a great complement. Brian Hunt has always taken the time to invent memorable and descriptive names for his beers, and he described his reasoning behind Bombay by Boat. His aim was to force bartenders and servers to know about beer styles since he figured they would get asked what Bombay by Boat IPA is. It also, of course, describes the origins of IPA, when they would send beer to the British troops and citizens stationed in India and discovered that extra malt and hops helped to preserve the beer during the trip. Brian also mentioned that Gene Bromstead, the owner of Barclay's, prompted the genesis of Bombay by Boat by telling Brian how much he like hops and IPAs. Brian then came up with a recipe for Bombay by Boat and Barclay's got the first keg.

The salad course was Heirloom tomatoes, Opal basil and fresh mozzarella and served with Old Combine lager. The yellow and red tomatoes were alternated with mozzarella slices and garnished with bitter greens. The balsamic vinegar dressing set off the sweetness of the tomatoes and complemented the bitterness of the greens. As for the beer, Brian explained that Old Combine was his answer to all the requests he was getting for a wheat beer. He refuses to make beers he will not drink, and a fruit wheat beer is high on his list of despised beers. He found out at some point that a Belgian beer that he liked had a high percentage of wheat in it, so he decided that wheat wasn't that bad. He liked the oatmeal in oatmeal stouts. And when he was in Russia, he tried kvass, a Russian rye beer. He decided to try all this in a beer: malted barley, malted wheat, malted rye and oatmeal, as well as several types of hops. He naturally called it Old Combine. He describes the taste of the beer as "you put it in your mouth and say `damn, that's weird,' then you swallow it and say `damn, that's good,' then repeat the process." He's tried it as a lager and an ale, and decided that the crispness of the lager yeast is the best. Lisa disagrees; she thinks the esters from the ale yeast complement the complex maltiness of the beer.

The soup course was next, and we were presented with a fennel, corn and shiitake mushroom bisque and a pint of Twist of Fate Bitter. The soup was thick and creamy, and profused with a menagerie of flavors. It had a distinct odor of hazelnut and was a little heavy. However, because of its complexity, it went well with the hoppiness of the bitter. The brewmaster admitted that he likes hops, and lots of them. Since his brewery is at home, he can go outside and get a glass of any beer (must be nice), and he usually picks Twist of Fate or Bombay by Boat. The bitter was quite dark and had a hint of roasted barley.

The entree was garlic seared prawns in a lobster cream sauce with mashed potatoes and seasonal beans. While the mashed potatoes were very good, they didn't really complement the prawns. (What is with the popularity of mashed potatoes by cooks these days? And why do they always put garlic in them?). The beer served was Death and Taxes dark lager. When he first started brewing, he discovered that many people thought that dark beers were automatically strong. This beer came about as an attempt to make an intense, flavorful beer that wasn't strong. It was loosely based on Sapporo dark, and has less than 4% ABV.

Dessert could be described by the cliché "death by chocolate," but what a way to go. After all the food in the previous courses we received a large chocolate brownie with "Now I'm Going to Hell For Sure" chocolate sauce. It was extremely rich, which also could describe the Barbary Coast barleywine. This beer was from Pacific Hop Exchange in Novato, not Moonlight. Brian Hunt doesn't make anything he doesn't drink, and he doesn't drink strong beers because he would fall down in the brewery and never finish brewing. We were told that Barbary Coast weighed in at 11.25% alcohol. I'd like to try it in six more months.

Moonlight also produces a pale lager, which is a clean, light bodied, lightly hopped lager, and Full Moon light ale. The seventh Moonlight beer served was Mandolin red lager. Brian was trying to make an amber lager that was dry and crisp, but he couldn't think of a name and was afraid that people wouldn't know what it was. He is a bluegrass music fan, however, and thought that he hit on a beer that tasted the way a mandolin sounds. Maybe John Pyles can let us know if this beer indeed reminds him of a mandolin.

I didn't think that the beers chosen for each course were always the best choice. For example, the IPA tended to overpower the succulent salmon. Old Combine would have balanced the salmon well, and the IPA would have better stood up to the balsamic vinegar in the salad dressing. The food, however, produced by Chef Bruce Paton, was very good all around. Brian Hunt thanked all of us for buying his beer and "supporting his habit". We could tell he really enjoyed beer and brewing, and his beers all show the same dedication to quality. He said that his assistant Lance is taking over the brewing at Downtown Joe's soon. Rowdy, the manager at Barclay's, should be thanked for organizing the evening as well as for promoting the microbrewing industry in the Bay Area and educating his patrons on quality beers and diverse styles.